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On their second year of high school Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei takes them to an onsen. It's their reward for the long, grueling process that is the InterHighs. They managed to make it the semis, but Aoba Johsai came back with a vengeance and defeated them once more. Nobody objects to the idea, all of them tired and in dire need of relaxation.
They end up at a small onsen in the quieter part of town. It's not peak season yet so they're the only ones there. Tsukishima only has few moments to enjoy the peace until Nishinoya declares a race and most of the underclassmen scrambles after him, shouting and pushing each other gleefully.
This, this is the team he chose to play for--full of annoying, hot-blooded idiots and senpais too nosy for their own good.
But as he turns the corner in time to see Hinata push Kageyama into the water, he thinks it's not the worse decision he has ever made.
-
The worse decision Tsukishima ever made was becoming friends with Kageyama Tobio.
It was a long process paved with banters, a punch or two, an intervention from the other second-years and ended with a heart-to-heart talk inside the locked clubroom at night (something they will never share to anyone). Plus, there isn't a lot of things you go through together without becoming friends because of it. Fighting together on the same team for a year is not an exception.
Tsukishima watches as Hinata and Kageyama team up against Nishinoya and Tanaka in an abrupt game of Chicken. The first years are cheering them on, as is the third years with the exception of Captain Ennoshita who is so done with the team that he's just lounging quietly in one side of the bath, undisturbed with the noise.
He hears a shout and the water shifts as Hinata falls off Kageyama's shoulder, toppling both of them in the water. The team laughs and Tsukishima even cracks a small amused grin.
That amusement quickly dies when Kageyama resurfaces from the water. His hair is plastered to his forehead, bangs swept aside and making his blue eyes bigger than usual. Water drips down his bare skin, running over hard muscle. Tsukishima finds his gaze wandering lower to look at firm hips, the curve of his ass, lean legs-
-Kageyama turns around Tsukishima's internal systems crash.
Tsukishima ducks down into the water, avoiding Kageyama's gaze. He hears Yamaguchi's worried tone next to him, but he ignores it in favor of submerging himself low in the water so that only his nose and up is visible.
Across them Ennoshita does the same. The only difference is that he's doing it to ignore the chaos around him while Tsukishima just wanted to hide his flushed face.
Damn you, Kageyama Tobio. Damn you to hell and back.
-
When Tsukishima wakes up, he is wrapped in the onsen's guest robes and Kageyama is holding him up.
What?
"Oh, you're awake." Kageyama has a hand on his waist and one of Tsukishima's arms across his shoulder. If he were fully awake then, Tsukishima would have pushed him awake and play off the redness in his face as residual heat from the bath. However, right now he is exhausted and a little sleepy so he leans against him willingly.
"You fainted in the bath earlier," Kageyama explains as they walk down the hallways of the onsen to the guest rooms. Presumably, so Tsukishima can sleep in a proper bed instead of a communal bath with a dozen of other people.
"Is that so?" Kageyama's skin is cold and Tsukishima finds himself leaning heavier against him so that his overheated skin can absorb the pleasant coolness emanating from the setter. Kageyama doesn't push him away and adjusts so both of them are comfortable. "Why'd they send you to help me?"
He knows it sounds a little ungrateful but he has to know. Yamaguchi would have been a logical answer, or one of the upperclassmen. Why Kageyama?
"Yamaguchi asked me too. He said it might be good for you or something like that."
Tsukishima mentally curses his best friend. For someone who looks so innocent Yamaguchi can be quite underhanded sometimes, especially when it concerns Tsukishima's well-being.
"m' sleepy," he murmurs in Kageyama's ear, watching in fascination as they turn red.
"Just a few more steps." Kageyama reaches up to stroke his hair in what was probably supposed to be a comforting manner and Tsukishima instinctively leans in to the touch, sighing softly. "You're surprisingly docile right now."
"If I wasn't, then you'd just leave me here."
The words escape Tsukishima's mouth before he can stop them and he can feel Kageyama tense. Then, all he does is stroke Tsukishima's hair one more time and puts his hand back on his waist, considerably tighter than last time.
"There's no way I'm letting you go."
And that is what fucks Tsukishima up. Kageyama may be bad at words most of the time, but once in a while he'll say lines like that, direct and simply honest, that makes Tsukishima think that maybe-
Kageyama tenses, face flushing and a look of panic on his face.
"King, what do you me-"
Before he can finish that sentence, they reach their room and Kageyama quickly pulls it open, dragging Tsukishima inside.
"I-I'll get you something cold. For the heat and stuff." Kageyama is fidgeting, hands falling from where he was touching Tsukishima. He's avoiding his gaze, eyes looking at the door to escape. "Please forget I said anything. It didn't...I wasn't going to...I-"
Tsukishima has had enough. They've been dancing around this issue for a while now, since that time Hinata, Yamaguchi and Yachi conspired to lock the two of them in the club room to talk things out. Both of them know there's something between them, but because they're afraid of what that something means for them, neither acts upon it. They're not the type to act on something they don't know.
But Tsukishima knows. He finally knows what everything means-the way his gaze is always trained on Kageyama and his thoughts revolve around him, the way it's so easy just to touch each other and offer comfort, the way Kageyama had blushed earlier with his slip-up.
Tsukishima falls. Twice.
First, he falls in love.
Then, he falls down and drags Kageyama with him. They land on one of the futons, Tsukishima on the bottom. Kageyama braces his hands on his chest to stop his fall and his legs straddle his Tsukishima's waist. He squirms, trying to get away but Tsukishima is faster and quickly locks his arms around the other's waist, stopping him.
"Let go."
"Hmm...how about no?"
"Tsukishima, you don't know what you're doing." Kageyama's voice is small, as if he's trying to convince himself of the same thing.
"Says the guy who inadvertently confessed to me earlier."
"What? Me saying 'There's no way I'm letting you go' isn't a confession!"
"What's a confession for you, then?"
"Saying, 'I like you!'"
"Okay. I like you too."
Kageyama stops struggling against him, breath suddenly stopped. He's at a loss for words. Tsukishima looks back at him calmly but inside his heart is pounding in his ears.
"You...tricked me," he says slowly.
"Is it really a trick if it's the truth? You like me, don't you?"
For one scary moment, Tsukishima thinks that he's wrong, that he misread Kageyama's signals and he only meant it as teammates, that his earlier realization about what he really feels for the other is a one-sided thing.
The moment is over when Kageyama falls on his chest, knocking the breath out of him.
"Yes," he confesses. "Yes, I like you. For a long time now."
"Good." Tsukishima feels warm now. Not from the bath, but for an entirely different reason that has to do with the boy currently burrowing his head in his chest. "That's...good."
Kageyama looks up at him and asks. "I like you. You like me. What do we do now?"
Tsukishima shrugs, unsure himself. "Whatever we want to do, I guess."
"Okay."
Kageyama leans up and kisses him on the lips.
'God,' Kei thinks as he kisses him back. 'He's going to be the death of me.'
-
Death by falling (in love with Kageyama Tobio)